William Parker – Mayan Space Station

not forgetting the sublime fully improvised collaboration, Altitude ], and features Ava Mendoza – electric guitar, William Parker – bass, and Gerald Cleaver – drums. Cosmic multi-hued blues, perfect for space and time travel. The unparalleled rhythmic firmament created by Parker & Cleaver is matched by Mendoza in full flight. All of the promise imagined by a trio recording of these musicians with compositions by Parker is delivered to the fullest.   William Parker first worked with Ms. Mendoza on a project entitled Thunder and Flowers for his July 2019 residency at The Stone in NYC. Her prodigious talents have illuminated many projects and recordings as both leader and collaborator over the past decade. As is certainly clear here, she is committed to bringing expressivity, energy and a wide sonic range to the music. Gerald Cleaver is an exceptionally gifted poet of drum sound who can play in the deepest of pockets and manifest all manner of sound to perfectly fit contours within the most open of forms. Cleaver & Parker have worked closely on numerous projects, notably within the nonpareil full-improvising trio, Farmers By Nature, together with Craig Taborn. William Parker is in vibrant grandmaster blossom here on double bass – in both pizzicato & bow-as-prism modes.   Regarding the album title, Parker offers: “Mayan Space Station is a conduit for peace and inspiration. It is an oasis where sound and silence navigators stop for sustenance to replenish their imaginations. It is a fictional reality that is important to the myth structure of the Tone World chronicle. In a way, musicians, and definitely these particular musicians, Ava Mendoza and Gerald Cleaver, belong to the blood line of sonic travelers who, as Sun Ra described it, ‘travel the space ways.’  Re-inventing the process, allowing music to flow through their instruments.”